Mayor Paul Marcincin's recommendation of LaBuda, 51, a former assistant chief, to replace Freitas will be considered Tuesday by City Council.

A 24-year veteran firefighter and administrator, Freitas will remain with the department as training officer, the position from which he was promoted to commissioner in July 1979, but which has not existed since then. Freitas will leave the $33,308 top job for a $23,070 salary as a lieutenant.

The 49-year-old Freitas underwent a medical procedure last week in St. Luke's Hospital to repair a heart condition. He had been off work on sick leave since Feb. 25, when he experienced chest pains and entered the hospital for tests.

The chest pains began after an incident in which Freitas was involved in a vehicle chase in northeast Bethlehem, as the commissioner followed a woman later identified as his girlfriend.

No charges were filed following incident, and Freitas said yesterday he was not chasing, but only following, the woman. He said he radioed city police units to stop his friend because he worried about pedestrian safety. Freitas was reprimanded by Marcincin, however, for allowing his personal life to affect his job.

Surgeons performed an angioplasty procedure to improve blood flow to Freitas's heart, and he said yesterday he feels well and is recovering nicely. However, his physician has written the city that the next six months are "vital to (Freitas's) recovery" and that, in the doctor's opinion, the mental stresses entailed in the commissioner's job "would be too great."

Freitas submitted his resignation yesterday, effective immediately, stating that "I enjoyed my tenure as fire commissioner, and I regret that my health has forced me to leave the position."

Freitas had also considered applying for disability pension, but since the operation worked and he has passed stress tests performed by his doctor, "I will return to work."

He will be eligible for pension under fire civil service regulations a year from now, on May 5, 1986, after 25 years of service. He would receive half of his annual salary, calculated by taking the average of his five highest salary years, according to James Earley, pension board clerk.

Freitas said yesterday he has not yet decided whether to retire at that time. "I'll wait till the time comes," he said.

"Sam" LaBuda, 51, said he was happy to learn he'd been nominated for the permanent post. "I was getting a little edgy," LaBuda admitted, since being appointed acting commissioner in mid-March. He was anxious for a decision so he could get on with his own plans for the department, LaBuda said yesterday.

He has already begun implementation of what he calls a "new concept" in fire department administration, the crux of which is greater participation in decision-making on the part of officers - lieutenants, captains, assistant chiefs and chiefs.

"It's going to be a 'we' organization," LaBuda said.

"I want to have more of a sense of accomplishment by a variety of officers," said LaBuda, adding that he conceived the idea as the result of his experience as an officer.

LaBuda was named commissioner once before, in 1979, but decided after about a week that the job wasnot for him. That decision was based primarily on personal reasons, he said yesterday. "It wasn't that I thought I couldn't handle the job," he said.

LaBuda has often been an outspoken critic of administration policy, including reductions in manpower and equipment maintenance. He said yesterday that he will continue to "fight for what I believe in," but, from here on, the battles if any will take place behind closed doors.

"They have the final say," he said of top administrators and council. "I'll have to justify what I want."